• Participants of this Atelier were alumni of The Festival Academy,  artists, curators, festival managers and researchers: 65 people from 40+ countries and all continents. Please find the participants list here.

Federico Escribal is a cultural manager specialized in cultural policies, diversity and cultural rights. 

He was formed at Tres de Febrero National University (Argentina), where he also teaches cultural policies as well as at the National University of the Arts. Furthermore, he is also guest teacher at the Arts Faculty of the National University of Colombia.

Between 2006 and 2007 he directed a school of arts and crafts in Sao Tome and Principe (Africa) for a local association, NatCultura. Between 2011 and 2015 he served as Cultural rights and diversity promotion national director, completing almost ten years in Argentina´s national Ministry of Culture. He served as head of the local job training system in Buenos Aires’ local government (2017-2019) and now as advisor on the Argentina Futura program at the Cabinet Office of the Argentine Presidency.

Sepehr is a Tehran based independent producer, curator, and festival organizer, He has studied M.A. of Puppetry at the University of Tehran with his Thesis on "Standardization of Puppet Theater Festival based on PMBOK method" and has co-founded the first International Theater agency in Iran; aiming to facilitate the cultural exchange between Iran and the world through performance. He is working as an artistic adviser, curator and board member with several independent festivals in Iran. In 2018 He worked as the project coordinator of the "Welcome to Iran" festival in BOZAR and co-programmed "The first showcase of Iranian performing arts" during the Fadjr Theater Festival in Tehran at 2019.
He recently co-founded the "Re-connect Online performance Festival" in light of Coronavirus global pandemic.

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Megan Anderson is the Special Projects Manager at Playhouse Square helping manage festivals, shows, and a variety of other programs at this performing arts center. She also works for US Quidditch as a Strategic Planning Manager.

I´m a producer specialized in the entertainment industry and cultural management. I studied Scenery and Stagecraft at the Colon Theatre and Graphic Design at the Buenos Aires University of Argentina.

I offer tailor-made content strategies for individuals, companies and governments, and also manage the preproduction and production for live events, classical music, advertising, films, and television. I run two record labels: Virtuoso Records, classical music and 220 Records, pop and rock music.

As executive producer, I have built and led dynamic production teams. I worked with most important brands, artists, events and festivals, nationally and internationally, and due to my job, I experienced to work on major entertainment venues of Argentina and abroad.

Stavros Stavrou was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1988. He holds a BA Degree in Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies from King’s College, London, as well as an MA Degree in Cultural and Creative Industries from the same university. He works as a lyrics-writer in the Greek music industry and has written a large number of songs for acclaimed artists in both Greece and Cyprus. Many of his songs have reached the top spots of the Greek airplay and sales charts. He also writes lyrics for the theatre and television. He is particularly interested in working for musicals and plays or musicals for young audiences. He has collaborated with both the National Theatres of Greece and Cyprus, as well as with many other theatrical groups. 

 As a creative industry worker he has dealt with a big number of projects, including organising musical, theatrical and other events. As a member of the board of management of various charity organisations in Cyprus, he has been actively involved in organising charity events of different scales. During the last few years, he has organised a number of events with the aim of collecting money for the creation of a special centre for people with spastic cerebral palsy, the first one in Cyprus.

Nima Dehghani is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and director born in Tehran, Iran, 1986. Nima received his BA in Architecture from IUST (2012) and MFA from Carnegie Mellon University with an emphasis on digital performance art. (2016) His recent research revolves around the core of "Aesthetics of social behaviors on the Internet" and his practices are focused on the combination of Video, VR-AR, Net Art, and performing arts. "Decompensation" (2016) is his VR performance which is still being shown at international festivals, and "I am not your food" (2019) is his last documentary piece in the configuration of video-performance which has been performed in Berlin, Prague, and New York.

He is currently based in San Francisco; teaches and works predominantly in the medium of theater and video projection design. He co-founded the first Reconnect online performance festival in March 2020 in response to the Covid19 pandemic.

Tom is a theatre and opera director, festival director and independent producer based in Dublin. His productions have been seen all over Ireland and at prestigious theatres, opera houses and festivals on three continents. He has previously been Festival Director of Cork Midsummer Festival and Theatre and Dance Curator of Kilkenny Arts Festival. 

He is a member of the steering committee of Ireland's National Campaign for the Arts and the board of GAZE LGBT Film Festival. He has participated as a speaker and moderator in three editions of Festival Readings for the Festival Academy and was on the inaugural EFFE jury in 2015.

Art Administrator, Director, Writer, Technical, Performer, Arts Educator - Currently Director of CHIPAWO and Festival Director of SAFE Festival. 

A graduate of CHIPAWO youth programme. A Diploma in Media Arts [Midlands State University] 2005. Her work with mostly children, and young adults has involved project management, training of primary school teachers and local artists involved in performing arts education as well as the running of community performing arts festivals. Chipo also develops projects to do with gender, children’s rights and child counselling. Working with CHIPAWO World, a resource person in Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. As leader of Girl Power, she has empowered girls in Zimbabwe using the power of the arts. Toured many different countries of the world with CHIPAWO children’s and youth performing groups. Also an accomplished theatre actress who has performed in a number of productions by the New Horizon Theatre Company. Has attended countless courses and workshops in all aspects of the arts, most recent being two-month course in Early Years Theatre Training [Goethe Institute] in Cape Town (2016) and Minds Dialogue conference [Mandela Institute for Development Studies] in Tanzania (2016). 

Over the past 12 years, I’ve been associated with Prakriti Foundation as their Senior Arts Manager. Of the 4 festivals and one bi-annual award which is currently hosted by the foundation, I am the festival director of one of the festivals Short and Sweet Theatre Festival, and been involved in the other festivals on various leading capacities and spearheading all performing arts and outreach initiatives of the organization – music, contemporary dance, theatre, and poetry. 

I am currently spearheading the foundation’s new initiative “Mental Well Being with Prakriti” for the arts community. I am an ARThink South Asia Fellow (2017-18), International Society for performing arts’ Global Fellow (2018 &2019). I was invited to participate in the Culture du monde programme, Paris hosted by the Ministry of Culture France in 2019.

Festival TransAmériques (FTA) 

Viviane Dohle is currently the director of production at FTA, in Montréal, Québec, Canada. She has been with FTA since 2013 and director of production since 2018. FTA is a festival of contemporary dance and theatre held every year at the end of May. 

HEC University

Between 2012 and 2018, Viviane completed a Masters in Management of cultural organizations at HEC University. Her research on the practice of leadership and management allowed her to analyse the practices of four different pairs of technical directors and production managers.  

National Theatre School of Canada 

Viviane is a graduate of the technical production program under Norbert J. Muncs.

Production and Creation

As a production manager, stage manager and technical director, she has worked with companies across Canada, including Neptune Theatre, Theatre Calgary, the Just For Laughs Festival, the St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu hot air balloon festival, Repercussion Theatre, Centaur Theatre and Imago Theatre. 

Borned in Buenos Aires in 1968, is dedicated to the art of puppetry  since 1980. 

Representing the Argentinean culture on stages around the world, he has toured countries such as Canada, USA, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Poland, Israel, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Africa,Japan, China , Russia, and all of South and Central American countries, performing  its works in more than eighteen different languages for audiences from the most diverse cultures around the world. 

Founder member of ATINA/ASSITEJ Argentina Centre ,is Vice President of the organization since 2009. Also is member of UNIMA Argentina, committed  at Foreign Relations Comision works .

 In 2019 he launched and Direct artistically  The Mundo Títere International Puppet Festival, a biannual event  proposed as an international projection event  neighborhood in the  suburbs of Buenos Aires City, to discover the art of puppetry and animation from Argentina and the world, trough high quality shows. 

Find out more about him here.

I am a working-class British Mancunian-born choreographer, theatre maker and researcher of Celtic ancestry, creating performance and outreach programmes which aim to raise voices and reconnect bodies. The artistic work which I now create reflects the diversity of my cultural experiences and inheritances. I am  honestly and actively working on becoming comfortable with not 'fitting' into any particular performance-based category, but in focusing my energies on how performance can change minds and change lives.

Koe Gaik Cheng is a freelance art administrator, focusing on festival management, based in Penang, Malaysia. Her interest in the art scene kickstarted when she became an art administrator in George Town Festival 2012. Since then she has been involved in various art festivals and community-based festivals.  Her role has changed from one festival to another. Recently, she has been working towards making the Little Door Festival a reality.

Dance company Baobab / Groch Brothers ltd. / Dance Producer’s team SooN
Born in 1988 in Tokyo. She lived in The Netherlands and Luxemburg for 10 years in my childhood. She had practiced dance whole times such as Classic ballet, Jazz dance, Street dance in my teenage. In Obirin University, She learned Contemporary dance and became a member of Dance Company Baobab choreographed by Wataru Kitao. After graduated, She started working as a manager at actors’ agency. She works as an administrator of international dance program in public theaters and performaing art festivals. She is a member of  Asia producers’ platform Camp. She established new team of young Japanese Contemporary dance producer’s team “SooN” this June.
From 2019, She has produced projects with young choreographers such as Baobab dance festival “DANCE x Scrum!!” and others.
http://dd-baobab-bb.boo.jp/   https://contact2soon.wixsite.com/soon

Lisa Luijten is a freelance producer and projectmanager working on social events in the Netherlands. Mainly focussed on inclusivity and interreligious relations, her passion is to connect people. At the moment working for Cinekid Festival (film- and media festival for children), Pride Amsterdam and InHolland University (consulting students on event projects). And also currently establishing an NGO for arts in interreligious relations.

Wianki – Fete de la Musique Program Manager, previously Sacrum Profanum Festival Manager, experienced concert producer, with almost 10 years practice in programming and realisation of film music, early music, contemporary classical music, pop, opera and various TV Concerts. 

Find out more info about her here. 

Find out more about her here.

International Assistant of Brazil Cena Aberta, actress and co-director for the company ultraVioleta_s.
Based in São Paulo, Brazil Cena Aberta was established in 2019 with the goal to make feasible the internationalization of Brazilian performing arts. The event invests in short, medium and long term actions to foster works that stand out from the scene but lack support to reach foreign lands. BCA offers show cases, pitching sessions and performances.

ADRIANA BANANA (Adriana Matos)Curator, Artist and academic researcher. Founder and General Manager of FID - Fórum InterNacional de Dança (in 1996) and, of the inter-transdisciplinarity plataform (arts/philosophy/science) Clube Ur=H0r. Bachelor of Philosophy (UFMG), Master of Dance (UFBA) and, Doctorate Student in Performing Arts (USP). Author of the book "Trishapensamento: espaço como meteorology". ("Trishathinking: space as meteorology", 2012). In the recentely launched book "Trisha: choreographing life" by MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo), she is one of the authors among the editor chief André Mesquita and, Susan Rosenberg, Babete Mongold and, Yvonne Rainner.

Ioannis Pantazidis was born and raised in Athens, Greece. He studied Business Administration in AUEB. At the same times he was working in Marble Art Center, organizing solo and group art exhibitions in Athens and Paros. His debut was in 2019 and his most well-known exhibition was in 2016 with the title “1st Urban Art Project – Another Street in the Wall”; an exhibition which combined Visual Arts, mainly graffiti, with performing arts (Dj-ing). He was also in charge for organizing one – or more days of creative tourism activities by teaching the traditional marble art technique. Right now he is in Barcelona for his master in Arts and Cultural Management at UIC Barcelona. He is also a board member of Arts Council Greece and Country Executive Director of ICCIRA (International Cultural & Creative Industries Regulator Authority). He was also a volunteer in “6th Athens Biennale” – ANTI and in “16th International MitOst Festival” in the field of communication and research of influence.

Al-Sharif is an artist-in-residence at Cité Internationale des Arts, sponsored by the City of Paris and ICORN. She is currently preparing for upcoming festivals, exhibitions, interviews and publications, in addition to finishing her photo-driven nonfiction book “His Weapons Are Unwise: The War in Yemen From the Perspective of Yemeni Women” (2020/21).

Find out more about her here.

With more than 16 years of experience in live performing events, content production, creative strategy and PR, both in Brazil and abroad (the UK and Europe), Luiza Morandini has been involved with multi-disciplinary projects but with music as her main focus. Since 2015, she is music programmer of JazzNosFundos (www.jazznosfundos.net), a music agency which runs two jazz clubs in São Paulo (JazzNosFundos and JazzB) and promotes more than 600 concerts per year. The agency is also responsible for the music curatorship of FAM Festival (Scheeeins) and JazzTempo Festival. As an independent curator and researcher, she worked for Sound Diplomacy and for Mercado Manual. Between 2014 and 2017, she was an associate producer at the British Council Brazil, coordinating the project called World Voice. Luiza has also worked with pianist and curator Benjamim Taubkin in several festivals, among them Europalia.Brasil (Belgium, 2011) and Conexão Musical Brasil-Israel. Living in London between 2008 to 2010, she was Arts and Culture Officer at Canning House. In 2019, she was part of the Overseas Night Jury at JazzAhead!. Luiza was graduated in Social Communication and Media (Faculdade Casper Líbero, 2006) and studied Arts - Critics and Curatorship, a two-year extension programme (PUC são Paulo - 2014-2016). 

Jaukje van Wonderen (35) finished a MA in Arts, Culture and Media at the University of Groningen, with a specialisation in film studies, comparative arts, arts management, -policy and -sociology. Before she started working as an independent creative producer/festival manager, she worked for 6 years as an innovator, producer and organizer within the Honours College of the university. Working as a creative producer on the one hand and project based as a festival manager, she feels both roles inspire each other greatly. 

Being a creative producer entails being part of artistic processes, making connections between artists with shared visions in order to let them exchange and collaborate, and directing the artists to translate their ideas to the stakeholders. Whereas working for the festival focuses more on business/financial and team management. 

As a creative producer for X_YUSUF_BOSS she works closely with artistic director Mohamed Yusuf Boss, a choreographer/dancer/theatre maker, and for Profound Play with artistic director Jasmin Hasler, a maker of theatre for the youngest (0-4 years). Both are based in the north of the Netherlands, are closely rooted in the region, but also tour nationally as well as internationally. 

Multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer, Matheus Bellini co-created and coordinated the project “Maratona Cultural: Orquestra na Rua”, which has already taken around 870 musicians from different orchestras to the streets of Brazil, promoting free outdoor concerts. He is currently a cellist at the Orquestra Municipal de Guarujá and, in his spare time, writes and produces songs about things he would like to change.

Sigrid Yanara P. Castillo was born in Tumaco, which is on the Colombian Pacific coast. She holds a PhD gained after years of dedication to research the oral traditions conserved by the black communities of this region. Her interdisciplinary research combines the fields of cultural economics and cultural heritage. Through those lenses, she understood the need to work with representative bands of Pacific music even in Europe. Mangrove Culture is the platform she had founded in order to apply scientific outcomes with the praxis of circulating other narratives.

Rosette Nteyafas was born in Kampala, Uganda. She is an arts and festival manager and has coordinated, managed and produced several arts events and training programs in Uganda for the past 10 years. She is an Alumni of Atelier Festival Academy Malta (2019). Rosette has worked with the Tebere Arts Foundation and the Bayimba Foundation since the inguration of the Kampala International Theatre festival in 2014 till 2019 in the following capacities, festival manager, Production manager and technical director. She has worked with Bayimba Foundation as the Director of Arts Education Programs while also managing and producing the Bayimba International Festival of the Arts, Amakula International Film Festival; and DOADOA- East Africa Performing Arts Market (2010-2019). She is passionate about the development of the creative arts sector in Uganda and enjoys mentoring young artists in areas related to production management and arts administration. She also enjoys writing soulful and inspiring poetry. She holds a BA in Tourism from Makerere University.

Matteo is active as a violin performer and artistic director, festival manager and chief executive of Lugo Music Festival. He performed as a musician with major italian, european and world youth orchestras all around Europe, Iran, Israel, Azerbaijian, Turkey, Ukraine and China. 

He graduated from the Italian Conservatoire of Parma and joined the Erasmus Exchange Programme at the Royal College of Music of Stockholm, where he could get a lot of inspiration from electronic, jazz and ethnic music, as well as contemporary and traditional dances, thanks to a worldwide network of people. The variety of situations in his life have sparked growth and depth in his understanding of people, situations and his role as an artist, as a community builder and as a world citizen: he directed activities, musicals and sporting events for the youth in his town and in Hungary, for homelesses and students of Bologna, then he also organized music workshops addressed to psychiatric patients and people with dementia, both in Italy and Sweden.

At present, Matteo is keen on creating performances within his own festival.

My name is Yvan Herve Butera. I'm a Freelance actor and producer in Film, Consultant at Ishyo Arts Centre, Assistant producer at Kina Festival and a Student in psychology at Charles University. I have an experience of 5 years working as an assistant producer for Kina Festival.

Samantha Nampuntha is an expert in Communications, Event Production and Public Relations. With 5 year’s experience under her belt, Samantha has worked with  organisations such UN Women, Girl Effect, Lake of Stars Arts Festival and Lilongwe Wildlife Trust.  

 In her work with these organisations, she has  spearheaded advocacy campaigns, co-lead a PR team in media management and actively engaged with partners and sponsors at events and during projects. 

Armed with a science degree in Technical Education, she possess the skills required to  critically analyse data and media trends in order to implement effective PR and advocacy campaigns. 

Passionate about her work, Samantha believes in strong work ethic, timely delivery and  exceptional results.

Poet and writer - Born in Tartous / Syria 1985 

Studied Media at Damascus University,  she has worked in print and electronic journalism, and in several Syrian and Arab children's magazines as an author and editor. Ola wrote and directed several children's plays, an adult play and participated as an actress in some plays. She founded several cultural initiatives and projects in Syria "Sadoun Cultural Workshop, White Project for Child Development and Culture, Tita Storyteller". Worked as a Trainer for many programs such as "interactive theater, child protection, child protection case management, storytelling, creative writing, building bridges of peace…" Volunteered to work with refugee children and young people in Lebanon, and with displaced people inside Syria, with many NGOs and institutions and  independently.  My poems have been published in several publications and magazines, and some of my poems have been translated into French, Spanish, Mexican, English and Polish.

Jeanne-Renée has worked for many years as camp counsellor for non-neurotypical kids and teens, prior to her bachelor in Intermedia & Cyberarts and her Masters degree in management of cultural institutions and organizations. She has worked for five years as mediation project manager at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels between 2011-2015, she is now audience development manager at the FTA, Festival TransAmériques in Montreal since 2015. 

I am an emerging creative producer currently in training at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, studying the MA Creative Producing course. 

Since 2017, I have worked in a project management capacity with the likes of BE FESTIVAL, Craftspace and Power Play in the UK, and with Junoon Theatre in India. Upon graduation, I wish to focus my producing work on participation and community art, platforming work by women, and facilitating more international exchanges.

8 november 1987 - Ghent

Experience: 

- Ghent Flanders Festival: Production Manager: 2012 - now

Education: 

- The Festival Academy (EFA): Festival Production Manager Training: 2017 + 2018 (Placement at Santarcangelo Festival, Italy: july 2017)

- European Network of Research and Documentation of Performances of Ancient Greek Drama: an Intensive course on the Study and Practice of Ancient Greek Drama, Epidauros, Greece: july 2011

- Master in the arts: language and literature: Greek and Latin, University of Ghent: 2005 - 2011

Georgemario produces works between the realms of fine art, music and graphic design. He studied these subjects with various artists active on the islands of Malta, both as an apprentice and in local institutions as part of formal education programs. This led to further education in the United Kingdom where he was awarded with a Master of Arts Distinction from the University for the Creative Arts. In recent years self-initiated projects were exhibited outside conventional institutions, creating a series of installations and happenings in selected spaces. The work often generates dialogue and interaction within the community. At times the community is central to the work itself. The current focus of the work is to discuss how art can be actively engaged with the subject being explored. A wide repertoire of work was exhibited and performed in various spaces; physical and virtual. He participated in numerous collective exhibitions locally and abroad. Through the years independent research has been more integral in the creative process of the work. Currently he is continuing with his research at the Mediterranean Institute at the University of Malta specialising in Ethnography and Ethnomusicology studies.

Doreen Sayegh is Manager of International & Special Projects at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, overseeing as many as 16 international presentations in each season. In 2016, as Festival Producer of Shakespeare 400 Chicago, Doreen managed and developed the programming of 863 events across 231 locations in Chicago. Previously, Doreen served as the Managing Director of the Seattle-based theater collective, the Satori Group; was Programming Advisor of Arts, Culture, and Design events for The Next Fifty at Seattle Center; and Programs Coordinator for the Globalization and Localization Association. Doreen is the Board President of contemporary performance incubator Links Hall, the Board Vice President of the League of Chicago Theatres, and served the City of Chicago as Legacy Co-Chair for the 2019 Year of Chicago Theatre effort led by Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. She is an alumna of the European Festivals Association’s Atelier POZNAŃ 2014 and Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Professional Arts Training Program 2011, and holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from Syracuse University and an MFA in Arts Leadership from DePaul University.

Producer. After graduating from the Audiovisual and Performing Arts and Production of the Latvian Academy of Culture, she continued her professional activity in the field of contemporary theater and cinema. Lelde has worked on various international projects, such as TV series Blinded (producer-coordinator) and the international camp PLETA Summer school 2018. Currently, Lelde is a producer for the international contemporary dance festival VIDES DEJA 2020, which focuses on site-specific contemporary dance and ecology, as well as several performances.

Cecilia (1986), from Buenos Aires, works as a creative producer, artists manager and curator. She has participated projects around the globe including Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Russia, United States & United Kingdom. She is the Executive Producer of CASA London's Festival of Latin American Arts and co curator of PROXIMAMENTE Festival (KVS theatre, Brussels). Besides, she is the international manager of Fernando Rubio and Josefina Gorostiza. Her former roles included theater curator for Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America (SEPALA), Executive Producer of FAENA ARTS, Cultural Programming Director of the Buenos Aires Cultural Management Ministry, Festival Producer & Artistic Assistant of FIBA (Buenos Aires International Festival) and dramaturg for the programme PROWERTALKS III (Het Theatre Festival, Gent).

He comes from a family with deep musical traditions and is a descendant of the eminent Polish composer Michal Kleofas Oginski. In 2012, he graduated with honors M.A. at the Stanisław Moniuszki Academy of Music in Gdańsk in the viola class of professor Irena Albrecht. At the age of 24, he started working at the Stanislaw Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdansk as an assistant professor in the viola class. He perfected his skills in Vienna at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien.  In 2019, he graduated with honors from postgraduate studies in Culture Management in Government, Local Government and Non-Governmental Organizations at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, also receiving the award of the Director of the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is currently MBA at the University of Adam Mickiewicz University and Poznań University of Economics. He is a laureate of numerous international competitions, prizes, awards and scholarships. He made his debut as a soloist with a Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot and as a chamber musician with famous polish oboist Tytus Wojnowicz in Tadeusz Baird Zielona Góra Philharmonic. 

 He has been art director of many initiatives, including EURO Chamber Music Festival, Sp  ace Art Festival, Viva Viola Festivity, Baltic Music Workshops. From 2012, he was associated as an activist of the Association of Polish Musicians in Warsaw, from 2013 a member of the Polish Viola Society in Krakow. In 2013, he was appointed the vice president of the Association of Artists Capable of everything in Zielona Góra, which he hold to this day, while since 2018 he has been the president of the Ars Sine Qua Non Foundation in Sopot.The artist is a protagonist of viola and new music and has performed over 20 world premieres. Contemporary composers dedicate his works to him. His articles are published, among others in the Journal of the American Viola Society (USA) and on meakultura.pl.Artist leads intensified concerts, pedagogical and didactic activity in Poland and abroad.

www.tymendorf.com

An Actor, Director, Content/Concept Creator, Teacher and Consultant. He co-produced and directed ‘Queen Moremi- the musical Reloaded which was staged in December 2019 in Lagos. He is recently concluded a Tour project for the Rule of Law and Anti-corruption Program of the European Union and British Council in Lagos, Kao and Abuja on issues of Anticorruption, criminal justice system and Sexual and gender based violence. 

Find out more about him, here. 

Angele Galea has acted in various theatre productions including Edward Albee's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Manoel, 2004), Alfred Buttigieg's Dwar Menopawsi, Minorenni u Muturi High Speed (St James, 2012), Secret Sounds Stories (Altofest Valletta, 2018), the monologue Apotheosis (2019), penned, produced and acted in Waħda Minna (2019) and was Stephanie in the two hander L-Interrogazzjoni (Teatru Malta, 2020). She has also acted in several films including Largo Winch (Pan-Européenne, 2007), Agora (Cinébiss, 2008), Beat (Falkun Films, 2018), Lost Planet (Latina Pictures, 2019) and Project Icon (Pellicola, 2020). She is the artistic consultant of Science in the City and was the education coordinator for Valletta 2018 Foundation. She has acted in various TV adverts and lent her voice for a number of radio adverts. She holds Fellowships in Piano Performance and Music Theory, and is a presenter on TVM for Maltco Lotteries. Additionally she taught art at youth.inc, as part of their empowerment programme, and is the artistic director for More or Less Theatre. Angele is a registered teacher of Art, history and technique, Piano Performance and Music Theory. She has taken part in various collective exhibitions with her paintings, as well as solo exhibitions, the latest one being “The Insanity of Vanity”.

Based in Curitiba, Brazil, Bruna Bayley is one of the creators and executive producer of the Paraná Children's Theater Festival. She has a degree in music and a specialist in Cultural Management and Production and has worked in other artistic areas in addition to the performing arts, such as music and dance and even in the visual arts at the Curitiba International Biennial for two editions.

Jie Xu is director’s assistant and project manager at the National Ballet of China. She has taken part in several international exchange projects, inviting guest artists to take part in International Ballet Season and touring with the company internationally. Also, she is the project manager of creative ballet workshops and the full-length ballet The Crane Calling. Now, Jie is working on her master’s degree in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy in London, and her research interests are cultural diplomacy and social inequalities in culture. She is enthusiastic in stimulating mutual understanding between people from different countries by the means of arts, and making arts available and accessible to more people.

An arts administrator, festival manager and programmer at Creative Lounge, an organisation that works with various organisations to develop, implement and evaluate festivals and other arts, culture and heritage projects. She is committed to the development and sustainable growth of the festival through offering critical support in terms of organisational development, programming and curating, marketing and fundraising development. Currently she is the Festival and Manager for Sounds of the Sacred Web Festival (Sosawef), a culture and heritage festival at Dzimbanhete Arts and Culture Interactions Trust. Since 2016 she has been part of the programming and curating team at Litfest Harare – International Literature Festival. She was also the Festival Director at 15th edition of  the  International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) at Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe (WFOZ)  in 2016. She is  currently studying for an MA in Arts Management and Heritage Studies at University of Leeds. 

Mengtong Guan was born and raised in Beijing. She obtained a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from Indiana University in the USA, worked in New York City at Lincoln Center Festival and Mark Morris Dance Group's China tour before joining Ping Pong Productions, and lead the organization as Executive and Creative Director since 2017. Her highlighted works at Ping Pong include China tours of Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced; representing pioneer independent Chinese artists in international engagements; advancing Australia-China Performing Arts Exchange programs with creative residencies; establishing collaborations with philanthropies in China to provide workshops and masterclasses for students from underprivileged families; and launched the Artists Connectivity Series PRC-USA with Kristopher McDowell in April 2020 in response to the covid global pandemic. Mengtong participated in Atelier for Young Festival Managers by European Festival Association in Gwangju 2015, and received Fellowship of Emerging Leaders of New York Arts 2016-17. She currently serves on the Membership Committee of International Society of Performing Arts. 

Tobias Kokkelmans (° 1980) is festival dramaturge and artistic policy maker of Operadagen Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Additionally, he is head curator of the Binnenhof Summer Festival in The Hague. He studied theater science and musicology at the University of Amsterdam and worked as a dramaturge at Emio Greco PC, the Flanders Festival (Brussels / Ghent) and the Ro Theater. He regularly wrote for professional journals such as TM - Theatermaker, Etcetera and rekto: verso. From 2004 to 2014 he taught in the Amsterdam Theater School. Together with the Transition Office, he founded the discussion platform De Agenda.  He also works for various companies, including Muziektheater Transparant (Antwerp), Wunderbaum and Urland. Currently he is chairman of the Gieskes-Strijbis Podiumprijs, the largest prize for performing arts in The Netherlands.

Kanobana R. Judo, founder of Positive Productions an event company and Isaano Group, a culture organisation based and active in the Great Lake region (Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, Uganda), from his experience of production management and event’s organiser. He is the Director of the Isaano Arts Festival and participate to the organisation of most of events, arts and music festival and concerts such us Femi Kuti, Ismael Lo, Ikobe, Sean Paul, Ice Prince, Groupov, Beenie Man, Kassav’, Lokua Kanza, Gael Faye, PathéO, Habib Koite, Akon, Oliver Mtukuzi, Stromae, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Faustin Linyekula, Lauryn Hill, Nneka etc.

Ruchira Das  is an arts leader with over 20 years of experience of working with arts organisations across cities in India. She is an ARThink South Asia Fellow 2015-16 & a Global Fellow at ISPA 2016 & 2018. She is the Founder & Director of ThinkArts, which collaborates with partners across the world to offer imaginative arts experiences to children and young people. She works as a consultant in the field of arts and education and has led several workshops for children, teachers & sessions on Strategic Planning for arts professionals. She is also the Deputy Director of ARThinkSouth Asia, a programme committed to training and supporting arts managers from South Asia. She is also a Director of Pickle Factory Dance Foundation.

 Mohamed El Ghawy is the founder and the artistic director of AFCA for Arts and Culture and Hakawy International Arts Festival for Children in Cairo, Egypt. He has also taken up the role of artistic director for the Brabants International Kinder Festival – BRIK in Breda in the Netherlands. Mohamed is a fellow of the International Society for the Performing Arts - ISPA. A Chevening Scholar, Mohamed studied cultural leadership with the Clore Leadership Programme in the UK from 2013-2014 and he previously studied Arts Management at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management in Washington DC, USA. Mohamed is an alumnus of the European Festivals Association (EFA) and a MENA ‘cultural innovator’ through the British Council. He also an alumnus of the Emerging Leaders Institute – APAP|NYC. 

Find out more about him here. 

Thuthukani Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean poet, XR enthusiast, digital artist and Art curator currently completing an Honours degree in Marketing at the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa). 

He works for the Vrystaat Literature Festival as an assistant coordinator, while also being a student assistant at the University of the Free State SASOL Library. He’s the founder and creative director of The Radioactive Blog, an online creative hub that aims to promote and develop creatives from different backgrounds through events, workshops, publications and the website (www.theradiaoctiveblog.com). In terms of sharing his work, his performance journey spans across Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa. To date, he has worked with Creativate Digital Arts Festival - under the banner of the Makhanda National Arts Festival, Fakugesi African Digital Innovation Festival, Harare Litfest, Brighton Digital Festival (in partnership with Urban Flo), Free State Digital Art fest and Tumaini Festival.vu